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A company like Pandora or Spotify? Two debt-financed companies that still can't turn a profit from music.
by dublinben 12y ago
A company like Pandora or Spotify? Two debt-financed companies that still can't turn a profit from music.
- 001sky 12y agoPandora and spotify are structurally unprofitable because of their licensing problems/payments. Apple is %500Bn company-- big enough to become a label--has the marketing expertise (iTunes) and Capital ($X0Bns cash) to be a next-generation 'label'. Or maybe I'm missing something?
- dublinben 12y agoIf Apple (or Google) had wanted to buy out the record labels and their catalogs, they could have done so years ago. They obviously didn't, probably because it's a dying industry that isn't nearly as profitable as their current products. The very idea of a 'record label' is a relic of the 20th Century, when all recorded music was distributed on heavy physical artifacts.
- 001sky 12y agoNot sure I follow. Who said anything about buying out the record labels? Apple can just <become> a label-replacement. There is still a need for a distribution/production/promotion service layer in music biz.
- neura 12y agoNeither of which also sell music in their own online stores, so it's hard to make a fair comparison. Also, Apple's iRadio is probably not taking off as well as they'd like and Beats Music already has a better feature set.
- ForHackernews 12y agoOr Google Play store, for that matter.